How to develop Emacs mode?

[David Kastrup]

Hi,

I have a question about developing Emacs input and major modes for
Lilypond.  What would be the right way to go forward for me?

I want to make use of current Emacs features (like semantic parsing and
similar).  I also want to create input methods for inputting on the
keyboard in chromatic button keyboard layout, but also in parallel for
inputting via midi (I already checked that make-serial-process can be
used for opening and accessing a midi device on GNU/Linux).

I don't think I'll be able to track on what Emacs versions (let alone
XEmacs) the code will run.  So the idea would be to provide it within
Emacs (Emacs has quite a regular release schedule right now) and just
there, and leave XEmacs users in the cold until someone decided to port
the stuff over: I really don't have time and energy for staying with an
Emacs 21.1 codebase (what XEmacs is mostly, except when it is completely
different).  That's been a total resource drain on other projects of
mine, and I don't want to go there.

Moving existing Lilypond mode stuff into Emacs upstream will require
copyright assignments to the FSF.  A fast hunch whether authors of the
current Lilypond mode can be determined with sufficient precision (for
legal accountability) and would be sympathetic to that, or whether I
should rather have to start from scratch?

Any suggestions, pointers, ideas?

-- 
David Kastrup